


The Absence of Magic

by IonaWestray



Series: Gargoyles: Ramble On [4]
Category: Gargoyles (Cartoon)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Explicit Language, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:34:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IonaWestray/pseuds/IonaWestray
Summary: Demona is back, and she has one thing on her mind: payback. But mixing alcohol and magic is never a good idea, and her actions have unintended consequences.
Relationships: Goliath/Elisa Maza
Series: Gargoyles: Ramble On [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901287
Comments: 13
Kudos: 34





	1. Prologue

It felt like she had been falling for an eternity.

Stone hit her wings, tearing through the membranes and breaking fragile bones.

She cried out in pain, but there was no escape.

Nor was anyone coming to her aid.

For a split second, she was sure Goliath would save her.

The fool.

He was always too heroic for his own good.

But he had chosen her instead.

A _human_!

He saved the human and let her, his own mate, fall to her death.

The ground was getting closer.

The wind violently whipped her hair and whistled against her ears.

This was going to hurt.

She and pain were old acquaintances, but it didn't mean she enjoyed it.

She'd been burned alive once.

That had certainly been unpleasant, to say the least.

She would survive this fall, just as she had survived everything else.

…but he didn't know that.

He didn't know she was immortal.

He thought she was falling to her death.

…and he had let her.

He chose a _human_ over her!

The last thing she thought about, before Demona hit the pavement with a sickeningly wet crunch, was how much she wanted to make Goliath and his little human pet suffer.


	2. Retribution

**March 30, 1997**   
**Maza Residence, Long Island**

Goliath and Elisa sat nervously at the Maza family dinner table, their hands clasped together surreptitiously underneath.

Beth was home for spring break, and they had gathered for a family dinner, the first Goliath had been invited to with the entire family present, but not the first he had shared at the Maza home.

The first night Elisa brought Goliath over for dinner at her parents' home, after he had recovered the ability to glide again, Diane had hugged him and sobbed as she thanked him profusely for saving her daughter at such a great cost to himself. She carried on to an embarrassing degree, but Goliath took it graciously. Peter had then opened an expensive bottle of scotch that he had been saving and shared it with the large gargoyle. It was about as much approval as Peter would have extended to any man Elisa brought home.

They were planning to tell Elisa's family about their future commitment ceremony tonight, and although they knew the family's opinion towards their relationship had thawed considerably, they were still nervous about telling them. The Mazas were getting accustomed to the idea of them together, but as truly committed life partners, Goliath and Elisa were unsure how they would react.

They were waiting for an appropriate pause in the conversation to make their announcement, when Talon, who must have had similar thoughts, suddenly stood up from the table.

"So, Maggie and I have something we'd like to announce," he said.

Elisa and Goliath shared a speculative look with each other.

"Oh, my god! Maggie's pregnant!" Beth exclaimed with extreme melodrama.

"Very funny, Beth," Talon said sarcastically.

Maggie's pregnancy was undeniable at this point as her belly swelled. As far as they could tell, she was about twenty four weeks along. Dr. Sato had been studying obstetrics like he was back in medical school, and although he had done his stint in obstetrics during his residency, that had been twenty years ago, and Maggie's case was far from textbook normal. They had no other options, though, he was the only person they could trust.

"I've asked Maggie to marry me, and she said—"

"Yes!" Maggie exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh, Derek! A baby and a wedding!" Diane said as she stood up and hugged her son, and then she hugged Maggie awkwardly considering she was still sitting down, and no one was going to make a pregnant woman stand up if they didn't have to. "I couldn't be more thrilled!"

Goliath and Elisa exchanged glances again. Elisa shrugged slightly and Goliath squeezed her hand gently. Without exchanging a word, they both agreed to hold off on their own announcement.

"Congratulations Derek, and welcome to the family, Maggie," Elisa said warmly.

"Yeah! That's awesome!" Beth exclaimed.

"Is this going to be a legal marriage? Who would you find to officiate?" Peter, always the pragmatist, pointed out.

Technically, there was nothing standing in the way of Talon and Maggie getting married. Legally, they were still human, but logistically, it could get tricky.

"Yes, we want it to be legal. We obviously have things to look into to make that happen," Talon said as he sat back down and put his arm around Maggie.

"Congratulations to you both," Goliath said politely to the couple. "I hope you have a lifetime of happiness together."

"Thank you, Goliath," Maggie said in her raspy voice, and she smiled sincerely at him.

"Yes, thank you," Talon replied. Although there was no longer any hostility between him and Goliath, their interactions with each other were as brief as possible. Neither of them were terribly comfortable around each other so they made up for it by being overly polite.

"We'll have to throw Maggie a bridal shower!" Beth said. "And Goliath should totally throw Derek a bachelor party!"

"Bachelor party?" Goliath said furrowing his brow.

"It's a human tradition where the groom is given one last night of debauchery before getting married," Elisa explained.

"I am aware of what bachelor parties are, I just do not see how I would be the correct choice in arranging such an event," Goliath argued, "or participating in one for that matter."

Talon covered his muzzle with a hand to hide his grin at the gargoyle's expense.

"Beth's just yanking your chain, Goliath," Elisa clarified.

"Ah, I see," Goliath said, and he cast a look in Beth's direction. "Very amusing."

Beth's eyes twinkled with mirth.

"Oh, he is going to be _so_ much fun to mess with," she said under her breath.

Elisa kicked her foot under the table and mouthed, "Go easy."

"There won't be any 'debauchery,' but we will make sure the appropriate parties and celebrations are held," Diane said excitedly. "Perhaps we can even combine a baby shower with a bridal shower for Maggie."

"Oh, sure, great," Maggie agreed, but Elisa detected a little bit of reluctance in her voice.

It was hard to be pregnant, but even harder to be an expectant mutant bride, and she decided she and Beth would have to do something special for their future sister-in-law.

* * *

Later, when Goliath and Elisa were alone at her apartment, they discussed their own plans.

"I suppose our announcement will have to wait a while longer, until Talon and Maggie have held their union," Goliath said.

Elisa sighed as she filled her tea kettle with water and set it on the stove to boil.

"Unfortunately. I don't want to steal their thunder, besides, we've come this far...we can wait a little while longer," she agreed.

Goliath nodded and sighed as he sat down on Elisa's sofa. He stretched out his limbs and rested his head on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes.

"I noticed you're not as sore this time after gliding back and forth to my parents," Elisa said observantly.

"I have been taking regular trips up and down along the coastline. Air currents off the ocean tend to be stronger and less predictable, and it has given me plenty of exercise," Goliath rumbled.

Elisa eyed him from the kitchen, he looked quite relaxed and content at the moment, and she quietly moved the kettle off the stove and turned off the burner.

"You still seem a little worn out, though."

"Not from gliding," Goliath muttered. "No offense, Elisa, but meals with your family often leave me feeling drained afterward."

Elisa laughed.

"None taken. I feel the same way, too, at times."

She padded across her apartment from the kitchen and slid onto his lap, straddling him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He opened his eyes and gave her a soft smile.

"I hope you're not too tired," she said as she toyed with a lock of his hair.

Goliath slid his hands up her thighs and around her hips to cup her backside.

"I'm sure I could muster up the energy for you, my love," he grinned slyly, and she leaned forward and kissed him.

* * *

Demona glided absentmindedly across Manhattan. She'd been away from New York for several months, and now that she was back, she had a lot of things to do.

But they all took a backseat when she saw them.

Goliath and that human.

A pantherine snarl escaped her lips as she watched them pass, and as if she were pulled by an invisible thread, she followed them. It was completely impulsive, and she only realized she was doing it after she had already followed them for several blocks.

Goliath came to a building Demona recognized as the loft where the human resided, and he landed on the roof. She took a position on the roof of an apartment building across the way and observed them for a time.

It surprised her that the human had not relocated after she had attempted to kill her. She was either not very intelligent or she was inordinately brave. Though to be honest, the human, as infuriating as she was, was beneath constant attempts to kill. She had better things to do with her time than to constantly plot the death of one human, not when she had over 5 billion to eradicate. It would be extremely short sighted of her.

She watched curiously as Goliath followed the human inside, and it struck her that he was very familiar with the human's dwelling. He clearly spent a lot of time there.

She watched them interact, and as she did, she fantasized about killing them both.

There was a knife block on the counter. She could smash through the glass windows, grab a knife before either of them could react, and slash both of their throats.

Or she could slash their bellies, and she could leave them to watch each other slowly bleed to death.

She fantasized for a while about how she would execute them when she saw something that turned her stomach inside out.

She had always suspected there was something between Goliath and the human. Something so unspeakable she could not force herself to accept or even admit it, even now when the proof of her suspicions was staring her in the face.

She watched as the human straddled Goliath where he sat on the sofa and pressed her mouth to his in a way that seemed very familiar to both of them.

She watched as they embraced, and she watched as Goliath began to disrobe the human, and she in turn removed what little he wore.

Demona stared with the horror of watching a disaster unfold before you, unable to look away.

Goliath had taken another mate.

He had taken a _human_ as his mate.

Bile rose in her throat that she failed to keep down, and she retched.

In addition to her disgust, her hate towards the human woman amplified a thousand fold, and she suddenly felt rather vindicated in her many attempts to kill her.

It had all started when he had chosen to save the human woman over her, and her blood boiled at the memory.

Goliath had saved a human over _her_.

His mate.

And now….

Now he was fucking that human slut! The wanton whore!

She debated executing them both right then. There was something satisfying about the thought of striking them down together mid coitus, but she felt the situation demanded something equally fitting as a solution.

Something that would hurt them both more than if she killed them in a moment of passion.

She went home, and from there she schemed.

She grabbed a bottle of liquor from her fully stocked cabinet, the first one she could get her talons on, and she did not care what it was. She took large pulls from it as she paced back and forth and plotted the demise of Goliath and his harlot.

She could arm herself with laser guns and assault the place, but that wasn't much different than if she used a knife, and it was far less personal.

She could incapacitate them while she ripped their still beating hearts from their chests.

Or perhaps she could use a spell that turned them on each other.

She could turn Goliath on the human and make him kill his own lover with his bare hands.

Yes.

That seemed fitting.

He would never be able to live with himself afterwards. Knowing him, it would either drive him to suicide or to madness. Either way, she would win.

It was, perhaps, a bit Shakespearean, but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.

She looked through her library of magic spells and her stores of magical artifacts, and as she did, she drank.

When she finally found what she was looking for, she gathered the necessary resources to complete the spell and left her home, quite inebriated.

* * *

She could hear them inside when she landed on the roof of the loft. The sounds of their rutting. How could they possibly still be at it?

Disgusting.

She nearly lost the contents of her stomach once more, but kept it down this time. She peered in through the windows and did not see them immediately, until she realized they had moved to the floor. Goliath was on top of her, thrusting against her. The human was beneath him, her eyes screwed shut in apparent ecstasy.

She remembered when it was her in Goliath's arms, blissed out on his love.

He had been magnificent back in their day. He was passionate, but gentle. Something she appreciated before, but now...it was not a gentle touch that she craved.

Thailog on the other hand...although he and Goliath were genetically and physically the same, they were as different as they could be as lovers. Where Goliath was tender, Thailog was practically sadistic.

When he learned of her immortality, it had thrilled him to be able to snuff out her life without repercussions, and he had strangled her to death a number of times in the throes of passion.

And she had welcomed his brutality.

The duplicitous unfaithful bastard.

She shuddered and shoved those memories aside and got to work.

She chanted the words, pausing in the middle of it as her eyesight blurred and she lost her place, but she continued on. The final component was lighting a candle to fuel the spell. She lit the wick, and it sparked and flared to life with brilliant unnatural green light.

She grinned maliciously and waited for the screams that would follow.

She imagined Goliath ripping the human apart with his own hands, her blood splattering hot and wet against the windows.

She heard a scream and felt a near orgasmic thrill as she peered back inside the apartment to witness Goliath's little tramp being torn to shreds.

But nothing of the sort was happening.

They were still fucking.

The scream she heard had been one of ecstasy and satisfaction and not one of terror and pain.

Demona cursed and looked over the spell.

She had done everything correctly.

She waited a little longer and heard Goliath roar, but she and Goliath had been together for nearly two decades, and she knew very well the sounds he made when he reached climax.

Demona cursed.

It hadn't worked.

She blew out the candle, but the wick only dimmed slightly before growing bright again.

She tried again, but with the same results.

She tried to snuff it out, but every time it sparked back to life. She scowled at the candle, muttered with frustration, and slunk off back to her home.

The candle remained lit the whole way.


	3. One Surprise After Another

Goliath sighed contentedly and nuzzled Elisa who lay beneath him. She made a pleased sound and snuggled up against him.

"Tha thu iongantach, Elisa," he muttered in her hair.

Elisa paused.

"What?" she said with a laugh.

Goliath cocked his head to the side.

"Dè?" he said as his brows knitted.

"Ok, stop playing around," Elisa said and swatted his arm playfully.

"Dè thuirt thu?" he replied, alarm in his voice.

"This isn't funny, Goliath. What's going on?" Elisa demanded, her concern rising.

"Elisa…chan eil mi a 'tuigsinn na tha thu ag ràdh," he replied.

"Are you having a stroke? I don't understand what's happening here," she said, her voice starting to sound panicked.

"Carson nach urrainn dhomh do thuigsinn?" he said.

"Okay, something is really wrong here," she said firmly.

"Tha rudeigin ceàrr," he rumbled in reply.

Elisa moved out from underneath Goliath and hastily put her clothes back on.

Goliath did the same.

"Maybe we should head to the castle. I could call Dr. Sato to come take a look at you."

Goliath cocked his head to the side.

"Chan eil mi gad thuigsinn," he said.

"We're getting nowhere here," Elisa sighed.

She indicated to herself, to Goliath, and then pointed to the castle they could see in the distance from her windows.

Goliath nodded, understanding her directions. Elisa put her jacket on, then Goliath scooped her up in his arms and carried her with him back to the castle.

* * *

"Something is wrong with Goliath!" Elisa proclaimed as she stormed into the kitchen, Goliath trailed behind her.

"Tha rudeigin ceàrr air Elisa!" Goliath fired off rapidly.

Broadway looked between the pair of them, his mouth stuffed full of food. Angela put her own sandwich down.

"Oooothay," Broadway said around his mouthful. Then he swallowed.

"What's wrong?" Angela asked, concerned.

"Goliath has been speaking nonsense for the past thirty minutes! I can't understand him!" Elisa said panicking.

"Tha mi a 'smaoineachadh gu bheil Elisa mallaichte," Goliath said.

Broadway looked at Goliath and back at Elisa again.

"Elisa is cursed? What?" Angela said, confused.

"Wait, you can understand him?' Elisa asked, surprised.

"Yeah. He's speaking Gaelic," Broadway said to Elisa.

"Gaelic?" Elisa replied, feeling even more perplexed with the answer.

"Gàidhlig?" Goliath repeated understanding at least that much of the conversation.

"Yeah," Broadway said. "Gaelic is the language we spoke before we came to New York."

"Why is he speaking Gaelic instead of English, and why can't he understand me?"

Broadway scratched his head.

"Come to think of it, I never once thought about how we could understand modern English when we woke up. I just assumed it was part of the sleep spell somehow."

"I always assumed it was something that had to do with Avalon for me, which is why we could go to other countries and understand their languages," Angela added.

Elisa nodded recalling her own experiences.

"That ability has since faded for me. I couldn't go to Japan now and speak with any of the clan there who don't speak English," she ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't know if it's because I hatched and grew up on Avalon, but I can speak and understand English even though Gaelic is my first language. If I concentrate, I think I can speak with Goliath," Angela offered.

"Brilliant!" Broadway said and he put his arm around her. "I can understand Goliath, but every time I try to speak Gaelic, it comes out in English."

"Could you explain to him what's going on?" Elisa asked.

Angela nodded, then she turned to Goliath and spoke to him slowly but in the rolling language that Elisa now recognized as their native tongue. Goliath replied to whatever she told him, he seemed to be comforted to understand someone, but he grew concerned again as Angela explained the situation to him.

They went back and forth a few times, asking each other questions, and then Angela finally turned back to Elisa.

"He doesn't know what happened, but he can only speak and understand Gaelic now. He didn't even realize he was the one with the issue until I spoke Gaelic back to him. He thought we were the ones afflicted."

Elisa sighed heavily.

"Swell."

* * *

As the rest of the clan returned from their patrols, Elisa explained what was going on with Goliath. Eventually the whole clan was gathered as they tried to figure out what exactly was happening. In addition to Angela being the only one to understand and speak Gaelic, Coldstone and Coldfire could as well; they had been programmed to understand several languages. The original clan members who had slept for a millenium could understand him, but they could not reply in Gaelic. They experienced the same phenomenon as Broadway: everything they said came out in English.

"What were ye doin' at the time this happened? Did ye notice anythin' strange?" Hudson asked, as he stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Uhm...we were, well...we were a bit involved at the time to notice if anything odd had happened," Elisa said as she blushed.

"Ah," Hudson replied, catching on, and he cleared his throat. "It must be some kind o' magic, that's all there is to it."

"But who would do something like this and why?" Lexington asked.

"And only to Goliath," Brooklyn added.

"If we can answer that, we'll understand the rest, I reckon," Hudson said.

"Maybe a day's sleep will help," Katana said, and she absentmindedly stroked Nashville's head as the young gargoyle stood near his mother, quietly observing the conversation but not adding to it. This was a grown up matter, and he was comforted by the fact that grown ups were handling it.

"We can only hope," Elisa sighed.

But as the sun set and they all took their places and turned to stone, Elisa noticed something odd.

Goliath's loincloth hadn't turned to stone along with the rest of him. It had always turned to stone with him before, but although Elisa found it unusual, she didn't think much of it, and she began to head out when she realized he would have a major problem when he woke up the next night.

She caught Coldstone and Coldfire's attention and pointed out the issue.

"Oh...I see exactly what your concern is," Coldfire said. "We may need to uh...remove it, or he may destroy it upon waking."

"Yeah, and it's not like any of you are running around with a spare change of clothing. I'll take care of it," Elisa said. "Why don't you guys find me something I can tie around his waist afterwards."

Elisa had a trick of a time trying to remove Goliath's loincloth while he was stone and very uncooperative, and it was also a bit treacherous to do as he stood over the tower wall, but thankfully the wool cloth was constructed as one piece that wrapped around and under, and once unsecured, it easily pulled away.

Coldstone approached from the tower steps carrying a large bath sheet they must have found in one of the guest bathrooms. Elisa thanked him as she took the towel from him and loosely secured it.

"Sorry for the indignity, Goliath, but you'll thank me later," she said to his stone form.

"Guess I'll just hang onto this for you until tomorrow night," she sighed as she held his loincloth.

"God, this has been the weirdest night of my life."

* * *

Demona awoke at dawn and the pain of her transformation ripped through her body. She gasped and choked as her heart started beating again, and her nerves awakened and then burned like they were on fire as her body twisted and mangled and distorted into her human form. She writhed on the floor in agony.

When it was over, she was left panting and retching and feeling like death itself because up until that moment, she had been quite literally dead.

Her skin was cold and clammy with sweat. Empty bottles lay around her, evidence of her descent into acute alcohol poisoning the night before.

She had drunk herself to death.

Again.

No easy feat for a gargoyle.

"Fuck!" she growled as she pushed herself up off the floor.

She hadn't meant to kill herself, but it wasn't like she had to be careful either.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" she screamed as she hurled the empty vodka, whiskey, and bourbon bottles against the wall as it slowly came back to her.

The reason why she had spiraled out.

And what she had done.

She hadn't seen Goliath since the night of the Hunters Moon when he had ruined her plans. Plans that had taken centuries of scheming and waiting for them to come to fruition, and he had mucked it all up in one fell swoop by using their daughter against her.

She had fled to Europe after that. She spent her time buying up companies and then immediately liquidating them or piecemealing them off, ruining careers and livelihoods in the process, leaving people without the ability to provide for themselves or their horrid squalling brats.

It gave her some measure of peace and satisfaction for a short while, at any rate.

Until even that lost its pleasure.

So, she returned to New York, and on her first night back, whom did she happen upon?

Her ex lover and his human bitch.

She had seen enough that she contemplated gouging her own eyes out before she settled upon drinking to erase the memory.

It hadn't worked.

But she'd done something else.

What was it?

She remembered gathering supplies and chanting.

And an ancient fragment of parchment.

Her head hurt too much to think about it.

She stood up and caught her reflection in a mirror. Her gargoyle garb hung off her frame unattractively.

She'd lost some weight in the last few months.

She hardly ate anymore, and she drank quite regularly.

There were dark circles under her eyes.

She staggered down the hall and up to her attic where she kept her study and her more mystical items. She had left the parchment and the still lit candle on a table. She looked at the spell, reading it twice, and she sighed at her own foolishness. She had been drunk when she attempted this the night before, and she had misinterpreted the spell. Not only that, but she had wasted valuable resources to do it.

When she had read it last night, she had thought that it had meant that by magic the person bespelled would turn on those around them and remove them by any means necessary, but it actually meant that any magic around them would be removed as long as the magical foci was in place, in this case, the candle.

Well, that didn't help her at all. It was practically harmless, even beneficial.

She snarled and snuffed out the candle, but it flickered back to life, and then she recalled this particular candle had been enchanted specifically for spellwork. It could not burn down or be snuffed out by normal means.

Only draco lacrimis, dragon tears, would put it out.

She had one vial of dragon tears that she had acquired with great difficulty.

It wasn't worth wasting. Not on Goliath.

She sighed.

She'd wallowed in self pity long enough. It was time to get her shit together.

* * *

The next night brought a whole new level of embarrassment for Goliath.

Shortly upon waking, he noticed a draft where in normal circumstances, he did not experience one. He looked down upon himself and immediately clapped a hand over himself. He looked around frantically for his missing loincloth.

Instead, he found Elisa standing behind him, holding it. He rumbled something Elisa could not understand, but it sounded terse as he snatched his loincloth from her and hastily put it back on.

"Hey, Angela, I could use your help for a minute," Elisa called down over the side of the tower. A few moments later, Angela scaled the tower and stood next to her father and Elisa and translated between them. Her cheeks reddened as Elisa explained she had not been pulling a practical joke on Goliath.

Once everyone got over the humor of the situation, they discussed the ramifications of the latest development.

"I have a theory...I'm not sure if it's correct, or more importantly why it's happening, but I think the Spell of Humility is no longer affecting Goliath," Brooklyn said. "Or the Babel Spell."

"Spell of Humility? Babel Spell? What are those?" Elisa asked.

"Well, the former is a spell that affects all gargoyles," Brooklyn explained.

"All gargoyles?" Angela asked, stunned. "What does it do?"

"It ensures that items within our possession that we view as ours personally, turn to stone along with the rest of us," Brooklyn explained.

"Like your clothing and Hudson's sword? So, that isn't a natural phenomenon, it's a spell that keeps you from tearing your clothes to shreds every night?" Elisa said, surprised by the revelation.

"You got it. Up until Caesar, gargoyles wore nothing but the skin they hatched in. Clothing was a human necessity, but Caesar found their nudity...vulgar, so he appointed a magus to correct the issue. Personally…I think he suffered from a bit of an inferiority complex, if you know what I mean," he said and nudged Katana.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled.

"Caesar, as in Julius Caesar?" Elisa clarified.

"No, Augustus."

Elisa blinked.

"You speak as if you know this information from personal experience," she continued.

"That's because I do," Brooklyn stated matter-of-factly.

"You met Caesar Augustus?" Elisa said incredulously.

"I did," Brooklyn replied.

"Holy crap," Broadway chimed in. It was always startling to be reminded that his rookery brother had lived twice as long as he had, and not just away from them physically, but in different time periods.

"That's…" Elisa shook her head, unable to think of what to say to that, so she moved on. "What about the other spell? The Babel Spell?"

"The Babel Spell is a spell that Demona cast on us before we woke up from the sleep spell. It translates what we hear into Gaelic and what we speak into English."

"So this whole time, you guys have all been speaking Gaelic, and you don't actually know any English?"

"Got it in one."

"Jesus...How do you know this?" Elisa asked.

"It's...a long story, just trust me that I know what I'm talking about," Brooklyn said cryptically.

Elisa sighed and nodded.

"What do we do?" she said dejectedly.

Brooklyn shrugged, feeling just as helpless.

"I don't have any idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't speak Scottish Gaelic, aside from a few phrases, so I had to use Google Translate (hahahahahaha I know). If you're fluent, please forgive me!


	4. The New Normal

The next few days, the clan functioned as normally as they could with Goliath directing them and Angela, Coldstone, or Coldfire translating the clan's needs to him.

There were a few communication hiccups, but nothing unmanageable. The real problem was Goliath's relationship with Elisa. She could not understand him, and he could not understand her, and if they needed to communicate with one another, it had to be through an interpreter.

It was incredibly awkward.

Goliath missed his mate. He saw her regularly, but he missed talking with her, saying something to make her smile or laugh. Confiding in her. Now, their communication was all business.

It was embarrassing and a hassle to disrobe every morning before dawn and hastily don his loincloth upon waking, and he'd taken to posing in a way that hid his nakedness, for the most part, but he would gladly deal with all of that if he could just talk with Elisa again. He loved making love to her, but it was the quiet moments afterward when they spoke softly with one another that he longed for.

He had no idea if what had happened to him was permanent or temporary, but until he knew, he had to adapt, and when he and Angela were on patrol and it was a slow night, she would teach him phrases in English.

Goliath had taken to patrolling with Angela so he could always have an interpreter, but he knew she was quickly growing to resent her role, though she would never admit it. She was getting less time alone with her mate to help her father, and he could completely sympathize.

One night, he gave her a break so that she could spend time alone with Broadway, and patrolled alone. He wore a communicator even though he couldn't effectively use it, and it was on that night he heard Elisa call for back up.

"We've got an accident, Matt and I need help with extracting a man from an overturned vehicle that's leaking fuel. The fire department is on their way, but if any of you are close by, we could use your help."

She threw out an address. Goliath didn't understand the situation, but he knew the location, and he was nearby. So, he responded to the call.

When he arrived on the scene, it appeared that one car had struck another at an intersection, and one of the vehicles had been overturned. Elisa and Matt were struggling to help someone who was trapped inside, but they couldn't get the door open, and the middle-aged man inside was unconscious.

Goliath landed next to Elisa and Matt by the car.

With Goliath on the scene, Matt jogged over to the other vehicle to deal with the driver and passengers. They were in better shape, but stunned by the events, and he had to make sure none of them planned to flee the scene, especially since so far, it appeared they were the ones at fault after running a red light.

"Oh, thank god, Goliath, we need your help getting him out. There's fuel leaking everywhere, and it could go up at any minute!" Elisa explained.

Elisa gestured at the overturned car, and Goliath thought he understood.

He gently moved Elisa out of the way, and he grabbed the vehicle and turned it back over.

"Goliath! What are you doing? We just need to get him out!" Elisa shouted.

It was an old car, one with metal panels instead of fiberglass, and it scraped along the asphalt as Goliath turned it over. A small spark was generated, and it shot out and caught on the leaking fuel. Smoke began to build up under the frame of the vehicle and then flames flickered and flared to life underneath.

The unconscious male driver was still strapped into the seat with his seatbelt.

"Shit!" Elisa cursed. "Goliath! We need to get him out before the fire hits the gas tank!" she shouted and pointed frantically at the man still trapped inside.

Goliath didn't understand her, but he understood they needed to get the man out, and he ripped the warped and mangled driver's side door off the car and slashed the seatbelt. He carefully extracted the unconscious man, not wanting to aggravate his injuries further.

He laid him out on the ground a few feet away, but Elisa continued to wave and shout frantically at him and even pulled on his arm.

Goliath picked the man up again and followed Elisa to where she was indicating, and he only made it a few feet when there was a large explosion, and he felt a wave of heat against his back. He shielded the unconscious man and Elisa with his wings and body as heat from the flames and broken glass struck him, pelting his back.

The fire had hit the gas tank, and the car had gone up in an inferno, and because Goliath hadn't understood the situation completely he had nearly failed to get them out in time.

His back stung, he probably had glass embedded in his back, but they were alive.

Elisa checked the accident victim for further injuries and then she checked on him. The look on her face when she faced him was definitely not happy.

* * *

Elisa was a little put out, to say the least, after what happened that evening, and when she found Goliath waiting for her at home, it only irritated her more.

She slammed her keys down on the counter.

She just wanted to be alone right now, and she was annoyed to find him in her home

And then she paused and took a deep breath.

It was their home now, not just hers, even though he still spent most days at the castle.

She'd gotten used to living alone, to being alone...of course Goliath would be waiting to talk to her, to work it out the way any couple who lived together would.

It was something she was still getting used to.

But how could they work out their problems when they couldn't talk about it?

"Hi," she said tiredly, but gently.

"Halò, Elisa," Goliath replied, his tone remorseful.

This was going to be a major hang up with their relationship. She couldn't talk to him, not without Angela as a translator, and she was really growing tired of having to censor her conversations.

"I am...sorry," Goliath said in halting, broken, and slightly accented English.

Elisa startled.

"You're learning English?" she asked.

Goliath cocked his head as if he was trying to understand what she said, but he nodded.

Elisa felt extremely guilty. What happened tonight wasn't all Goliath's fault, and everyone had walked away relitively unscathed, aside from a few cuts Goliath sustained on his back.

The unconscious victim had come to at the hospital, and though he suffered from a broken leg and arm and a concussion, he would make a full recovery.

And Goliath was trying to learn how talk with her again. He was learning to speak English when she hadn't even tried to learn any Gaelic.

She wasn't mad at him, she was mad at the situation and the helplessness of it.

She sighed and leaned into him and put her arms around him. Goliath released a deep, heavy sigh as he took her into his embrace, his arms and wings folding around her, and it was then that Elisa realized that this was the first time he had held her since he'd lost the ability to speak English. She held him tighter, and he responded in kind as they drew comfort from each other.

They would be ok. They would get through this. It would take time as they learned to communicate again, but they'd get through it together.

As Goliath reveled in holding Elisa again for the first time in nearly a week, his mind drifted and the refrain of a song he had heard earlier tumbled through his head over and over.

It was a song that had been playing on the stereo of the overturned car before it burst into flames. It was perhaps an older tune from a few decades ago, something Elisa would call an "oldie," though it was all new to him, but there was one word that stuck out to him. He didn't understand any of the other words in the song, but he recognized that one. It held significance for some reason, but he wasn't sure why.

And then it hit him like a brick to the head.

"Shambahla," Goliath said abruptly as memories flooded his mind. Memories that until now had been magically suppressed.

It was after their time in Tibet.

Something important had happened.

"What?" Elisa said, confused.

"Shambahla," Goliath said again, and he looked hard at her, as if studying her reaction.

"I don't…" something, a memory niggled at her, but it was beyond her grasp, and she shrugged. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Goliath sighed with frustration, and he gazed out the window, but as he did, he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

A flash of red, and a familiar silhouette.

Goliath's eyes grew wide with recognition, and he flew across the room, threw open the window, and launched himself off the roof and into the night.

"Wait! Goliath!" Elisa called after him, confused, but he was gone.

"God damn it!" she cursed with frustration and slammed her window shut.

* * *

Demona fled.

Her curiosity got the better of her and she'd looked in on Goliath and his human again, hoping the spell had worked out differently than she thought. There didn't seem to be anything amiss as she watched them embrace, more's the pity, and she growled bitterly.

But she had been careless, and Goliath had spotted her, and now she was fleeing from the angry juggernaut that was her ex.

It wasn't like he could do any real harm to her, even if he tried, but those old instincts of self preservation were hard to fight against.

She was fast, but he had always been faster, and he quickly overcame her, striking her from above.

Goliath's arms wrapped around her waist and he drove her down onto the roof of a building below them. They hit hard, stunning them both, and she took the opportunity to try and escape. She struggled against him and nearly broke free, but he threw her back roughly against the roof.

"Dè rinn thu?!" he seethed through clenched teeth, his eyes blazed white with anger.

It all made sense now, Goliath thought.

Demona knew where Elisa lived, and if she had been spying on them...who knew what she had seen and what she might have done to retaliate.

Demona paused, surprised to hear the old tongue.

"Tha fios agam gur tusa am fear air a chùlaibh," he continued angrily.

Demona punched him, catching him right on the jaw.

He reeled but didn't loosen his grip.

She raked a hand at his eyes, baring her talons, but he turned his face in time, and she caught his temple, brow, and cheekbone instead, leaving three painful furrows that cut down to the bone and bled profusely. Blood poured into Goliath's left eye, blinding his ability to see, but the eye itself was unharmed, which was the most important thing. He growled and pinned her arms back against the roof, and she struggled vainly against him.

Goliath hated fighting her.

He hated that the touch that was once so loving between them was now brutal and bloody.

But she had betrayed him, caused him more pain and anguish than anyone, and it was a fine line between love and hate.

"Dè a rinn thu orm, bana-bhuidseach?" he snarled.

"Chan eil gu leòr no bhiodh tu le chèile marbh!" Demona snarled back, and she kicked up and struck him hard, right between his legs. Where Goliath had reservations when it came to fighting her, she had none when it came to fighting him, and she was not above fighting dirty.

Goliath gasped and immediately shrunk back as sickening pain radiated up into his abdomen and a wave of intense nausea washed over him.

Demona easily escaped his grasp and slipped away before Goliath had a chance to recover and pursue her, and by then, she was long gone.

He snarled and pounded the roof with his fist, breaking off a chunk of old tar and concrete before he rolled over onto his back and groaned painfully as he gingerly clutched his aching groin.

* * *

When Goliath had recovered enough to glide, he returned to the castle. He would have returned to Elisa, but dawn was approaching, and he needed to speak with his clan.

He limped through the castle, bleeding and aching, and brooding like a dark thundercloud.

"Woah! Goliath, what happened to you?" Lexington asked when he and Hudson crossed his path.

Goliath didn't understand a word he said, but he understood his tone and the wide-eyed expression on his face as he took in what must have been a rather grizzly visage.

"Demona," was all he said.

"That certainly looks like her handiwork," Hudson said, gesturing at his face.

Goliath staggered into the kitchen, grabbed a towel, and filled it with ice from the freezer, by then everyone had followed him in to find out what was going on.

Angela had brought a first-aid kit, and she tenderly examined his face after he took a seat in a chair at the table.

"Give me a moment to clean your face first before you put ice on it," Angela said as she noticed the darkening bruise on his jaw.

"It's not for my face," he told her, and he stuck the bundle of ice right on his lap. He grimaced and sucked in a breath of air through his teeth.

"Oh," Angela said awkwardly, and then she got to work and gently cleaned the blood off his face.

"Sooooo...how's the ex?" Brooklyn asked and Angela translated.

"I think Demona is the one behind the spell," Goliath growled in Gaelic.

They all looked at each other skeptically. Demona was a huge trigger for Goliath, and his judgment when it came to her couldn't always be trusted.

"I noticed her spying on Elisa's home. I pursued her, and she all but admitted to it. When I asked her what she had done, she said, 'Not enough or you'd both be dead.' She's behind it. It's the only thing that makes sense," Goliath argued.

"As far as spells go...this one seems a bit tame for her, don't you think?" Brooklyn replied, with Angela translating again.

"I don't know what to think," Goliath snapped. "But we need to find her. Starting tomorrow night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're curious about what song Goliath heard that jogged his memory, it was "Shambala" by Three Dog Night.


	5. Gambit

The next night, after a hasty meal, the clan split up into groups to search for Demona, but Goliath held Angela back and pulled her aside to ask her a question.

"Angela, do you remember Shambahla?"

"Shambahla?" Angela replied, confused, and she shook her head. "I don't recall anything about it."

"We've been there before when we were trying to get home from Avalon. We woke up there after we fought with my brother, Coldstone. Tenzin? Pema? Do those names mean anything to you?"

Angela got the same look that Elisa had. A brief flash of recognition that immediately faded.

"I don't know…" she said skeptically.

Goliath sighed.

"We were bespelled to forget, and whatever happened to me removed the enchantment, but you still can't remember and neither can Elisa, and probably Bronx, too, for that matter, even though he wouldn't be able to tell us anything."

Angela's eyes widened.

"What happened?"

"I will tell you later, but right now, we need to focus on finding Demona. Team up with Broadway, I'll have the others search the city as well. When she's found, don't engage with her, but report in, got it?"

Angela nodded.

"Good," Goliath said gruffly, and then he left, but Angela had a different plan and she searched around the kitchen for a phone book.

Broadway came back in looking for her after he passed Goliath out in the hall. "Hey, everyone's heading out to look for Demona right now. We should go," he said.

After finding the phone book, Angela flipped through it and found her mother's pseudonym listed.

"I have a better idea," she said as she memorized the address in Gramercy Park. "I'm going to speak with her."

"Angela! You can't! She's dangerous!" Broadway protested.

"Demona won't hurt me. She's had the chance before, and she didn't. If Goliath finds her first, he'll just fight with her and try to strong arm her into helping, which won't work. Maybe she'll listen to me instead, " Angela explained.

"I'll go with you," Broadway insisted.

"No. I have to go alone. She may not hurt me, but she won't have any qualms about hurting you," Angela argued.

"I don't like it," Broadway pouted, and Angela reached out and stroked his cheek lovingly.

"I'm not asking you to, but I am asking you to trust me."

"I'll wait outside for you, and if you take too long, I'm coming in," Broadway capitulated.

"Fine," Angela agreed. "Let's go."

* * *

Angela landed in front of Demona's townhouse and walked cautiously up the front steps to the door. She tentatively rang the bell, and instead of the classic _ding_ and _dong_ , she was greeted with the screech of a female gargoyle. When she realized it wasn't actually her mother growling at her, she rolled her eyes. Apparently Demona had a flare for the dramatic.

She heard a whirring sound and noticed several cameras turn and focus on her.

"If you are here on Goliath's behalf, please leave," Demona's voice came tinily over an intercom speaker by the door.

"Mother, please, I wish to speak with you." Angela begged as she looked for something to focus on, and then she spotted the small camera above the face of the intercom.

"Why?" Demona growled, her voice irritated even through the speaker, but she had not dismissed her yet.

"Because I'm your daughter. Please. I just came to talk. Alone."

For a moment, Angela thought it hadn't worked, and her plees had fallen upon deaf ears as the other end of the speaker had gone silent, but then she heard a buzz and click as the front door unlocked.

"Come in," Demona said. "And don't touch anything."

Broadway watched anxiously from a nearby rooftop as Angela walked into Demona's house alone.

"I hope we're not making a really huge mistake," he muttered to himself, and then he settled in and waited.

* * *

Demona's house looked like a museum. There were medieval and renaissance antiques all throughout, as far as Angela could see. It probably cost a fortune, but her mother had likely stolen or collected the pieces over the years, never paying a single penny to acquire them.

"That's a new look for you," Demona said as she descended from a large staircase.

The last time Demona had seen Angela, she had worn a single one-piece tunic, but Angela had altered it into two seperate pieces, leaving her midriff completely bare.

"Trying to turn anyone's head in particular?" she said snidely.

"No, not really, I mean...I have a mate now," Angela replied timidly.

"Really?" Demona said surprised. "Who?"

"Broadway," Angela replied proudly, and then her face fell as she saw the contempt on her mother's face.

"That buffoon is your mate?" Demona scoffed and she made a disgusted sound in her throat. "Honestly, you could have done so much better."

"He's not a buffoon! He's smarter than most give him credit for, and he's sweet and kind and he's...well, he's very good to me, and I love him," Angela said defensively.

"Love…" Demona said derisively, but she said nothing further on the matter.

Angela then noticed her mother's appearance for the first time. She had...changed since the last time she saw her. She was thin and wan. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes were dark and dull, and her hair looked lifeless and brittle. She was a mess.

"You do not look well," Angela observed.

Demona scoffed.

"I may be immortal, but that doesn't mean I don't suffer at times."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Angela said gently.

Demona scowled, and then her face softened.

"No, but I appreciate your concern. Come with me," Demona said and she stalked off further into the house. Angela hesitated and then followed her. Demona led her to a kitchen in the back. It wasn't as grand as Xanatos's, but it was a lot fancier than the kitchenette in Elisa's apartment. Demona opened a few cupboards as if she were searching for something, and Angela noticed her cupboards were quite bare. She knew Demona could afford to provide food for herself, but she clearly had not bothered, and it surprised Angela how much that worried her.

"Would you like something to drink? Tea perhaps?"

"Uh, no, thank you," Angela responded. She didn't trust Demona not to try and slip her something. "I really just want to talk to you about what you've done to Goliath."

Demona slammed a tea kettle down onto the stove.

"Getting right to the point, aren't we? What makes you think I have done anything?" she snapped.

Angela looked pointedly at her, and Demona rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Yes, I put a spell on him, but it's harmless."

"It's not harmless! He can't communicate effectively with most of us anymore, and it's put him and others in danger, plus the Spell of Humility, that's what Brooklyn called it, no longer works, and he has to go to sleep and wake up naked every day! It's embarrassing for all of us."

Demona chortled, and then burst into a full on laugh.

"Are you telling me, Goliath has to sleep naked or he'd bust out of his loincloth every night?"

"Yes," Angela said and tried to hide her own amusement at that particular issue.

"Oh...oh, that's rich. I was hoping the spell would force him to kill his horrid human lover, but this might be even better. He's so damn prideful," she sniggered.

"Wait...you know about him and Elisa?" Angela said, and the pieces fell into place.

"Unfortunately," Demona growled, and her eyes flashed crimson briefly.

"You were trying to get back at him for Elisa, weren't you?"

Demona was silent.

"You are petty," Angela said with disappointment.

"Do not be insolent with me, daughter. Goliath is depraved and unfit to lead. You'd all be better off without him," Demona snarled coldly

"I wouldn't be. He's my father. I know you don't care for him, but you did once, and I know you care about me. Please, remove the spell from Goliath. I know it seems like a harmless spell, but it makes life for him a lot more difficult, and by extension me."

Demona sighed with annoyance.

"Ending the spell will cost me a great deal. What do I get out of this?"

"If you do it...I will visit with you regularly."

Demona's scowl turned into a look of surprise.

"You would do that?" she said quietly, a little emotion touching her voice.

"Yes, I–I wish to know you from my own experiences and not from what others have told me of you," Angela said, growing more and more confident with her decision.

Demona didn't even hesitate.

"Then it is done."

* * *

Before searching for Demona, Goliath stopped by Elisa's place, hoping to catch her before work. He owed her an explanation for last night, even though he could not tell her exactly what happened. He could at least try.

Luckily, he caught Elisa right before she was about to head out the door.

"Goliath, I'm glad you're alright, when you took off..." Elisa said and then stopped when she remembered he couldn't understand her. She gestured towards the door. "I've got to go. I'll be late for work."

Goliath held up his hands, gestured to himself and said, "Demona."

Elisa furrowed her brows.

"What about her?"

He tapped his mouth and then his ears, then he tapped the buckle of his belt.

"Demona," he said again.

Then he pointed to the window.

"Yesterday...Demona."

Elisa's eyes grew wide.

"Demona was here yesterday?" she said slowly, pointing down with both hands to indicate her home.

Goliath hesitated and then nodded.

"And you think she's the one behind all of this?"

Goliath's expression was blank, and Elisa shook her head.

"God damn language barrier," she growled.

Goliath saw her frustration and knew it came from their inability to communicate effectively. He took her hands in his and spoke quietly to her. He knew she could not understand him, but he had to get some things off his chest.

"Tha fios agam nach e seo a bha aon seach aon againn ag iarraidh an-dràsta. Ràinig sinn àite math mu dheireadh agus thachair seo..." he said.

* * *

"I only have enough to douse the flames," Demona scowled as she examined the small vial of tears.

She would do it, but only for Angela.

She pulled the stopper out of the bottle and dipped the candle wick into the liquid at the bottom, dousing the flames, rendering the magical properties of the tears inert, and breaking the spell.

* * *

"Tha fios agam gu bheil e air a bhith duilich eadar sinn o chionn ghoirid...ach tha gaol agam ort, Elisa, and I will always love you, no matter what happens."

"Wait. Say that again?" Elisa said, wondering if her brain had skipped.

"I love you, Elisa, and I…wait. I understood you. I answered your question," Goliath said as it dawned on him.

Elisa jumped up and down and laughed jubilantly.

"And I can understand you!" she said exultantly.

"By the dragon! Elisa!" Goliath said, and he gathered her back up into his arms and swung her around.

"Oh, god, I've missed you!" Elisa said as she hugged him fiercely. "I mean, you were here, but there was a wall between us."

"I know," Goliath said and he stroked her hair a few times before setting her back down on her feet. "Perhaps whatever spell Demona cast was temporary and it has now faded."

"God, I hope so," Elisa said, breathing a huge sigh of relief. "Ok, now that we can talk to each other again...tell me what happened last night when you left. What does Demona have to do with it, and why were you talking about Shambahla?"

"Shambahla?" Goliath said, and he furrowed his brow.

"You kept repeating it over and over last night like I should know what it means," Elisa said.

Goliath was silent for a moment as he searched his memories, but he came up blank.

"I...I haven't got a clue."

* * *

Demona sighed as she walked down the winding flight of stairs from her study.

Her spell on Goliath had been a foolish endeavor to begin with, a response born out of jealousy and anger.

But now she had a way in with Angela, an unforeseen windfall.

And she could wait.

Oh, how she could wait.

She could play the long game.

She could play for hundreds of years, if need be.

She could influence Angela, poison her slowly against her father, her clan, bit by bit, and some day...

Some day, her daughter would be all hers.


End file.
